Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) shares rallied strongly as chief executive Josh Weinstein insisted the cruise operator was "accelerating" towards strong profitability after bookings picked up.
Losses at the US-based group were US$1.6bn before tax in the fourth quarter (Q4) to end November 2022 (Q4 2021: US$2.6bn loss), with a full-year deficit of US$6.1bn (2021: US$9.5bn loss).
Revenues for the latest quarter, however, jumped to US$3.81bn to make US$12.2bn for the year as all of Carnival's ships returned to service, with Weinstein noting that revenue per passenger was now ahead of pre-Covid levels.
“Booking volumes strengthened following the relaxation in protocols, cancellation trends are improving globally, and we have seen a measurable lengthening in the booking curve across all brands,” he said in the results statement.
December has also been strong, he added, which boded well for 2023 where costs will benefit from a quarter of the fleet being composed of newly delivered vessels.
Occupancy in the fourth quarter rose to 19 percentage points below 2019, again an improvement over the previous three months, Carnival said.
Shares in London jumped 7.6% to 632.4p.